How to Check the Tire Air Pressure

Often forgotten, but very important to determine handling, tire wear, and vibrations. Keeping the air at bay is the valve stem core, sometimes it works loose and leaks slightly, causing the tire balance to be thrown off, changing the contact with the road, changing the handling of the tire.

When checking the air pressures in your tires, also check to see that the valve cores are tight. Gauges can be off by many psi so you may want to calibrate your gauges twice a year. Fill tires to specs found on the sidewall. Check the sidewalls and tread area for damage, cuts, splitting, debris – metal, screws, nails, etc.

For the dual wheels, you may want to use an air equalizer system with pressure indicators, such as Cats Eyes. It would speed up your tire monitoring to just doing the steer and tag axles. And visually checking the duals that have the equalizers installed.

Although tire pressure is only one of many factors for tire wear, it is many times overlooked. Checking pressures in the spring and fall is really important because of the temperature changes, but having them checked once a month goes a long way for fuel mileage, and tire wear.